Type-writing machine.



S. T. SMITH.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.. APPLICATION 11150111111 5.1914.

' Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

3 SHEETS*SHEET l.

HI x

Patented Nov. 9, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

S. T. SMITH.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5,1914.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN T. SMITH, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO 'UNDERWOOD TYPE- WRITER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application led J' une 5, 1914. Serial No. 843,117.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, STEPHEN T. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing in Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Type- Writing 'Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to twin typewriting machines, in which two frames are mounted side 'by side, each frame carrying a set of typebars and keys, each type set having a separate printing point, and a paper carriage mounted to travel in each printing one and to cross over from one zone to the other; and one of the objects ofthe invention is `to produce acompact, strong and durabledevice of this character.

One feature of the invention relates to the letter-feeding mechanism. Each set of type keys operates a separate escapement mechanism, usually comprising an escapement wheel and pinion, the latter running in mesh with a rack on the carriage tol control the letter-feed movement of the carriage. The rack is of a length substantially equal to the distance between the pivots of the two escapement pinions, whereby upon the conclusion of the operation of one escapement train the operation of the other escapement train begins. The lengthY of the rack'may therefore be about equal to the length of the line written on either typewriter; in other words, the length of the line of writing may be equal to the distance between the pivots of the escapement wheels.

A front scale bar may be provided with scales to indicate the position of the carriage in each printing zone, each scale comprising ay series of numbered graduations, and as the line o'f writing for one zone commences where the line ofwriting in the other zone is completed, the numbering of one scalel commences where the other is concluded, so that there is no gap between the scales. p

When the carriage is in the right-hand side of the machine, it may be fed along by operating the type keys or space key until the .limit-of the line of writing is reached, whereupon a further operation of said keys will not ai'ect the carriage; but the letterfeed movement of the carriage which has thus been brought to the left-hand printing zone, may be continued by operating the keys ofthe left-hand keyboard. Thus there 1s no point on the carriage that is not in the control of either one letter-feeding mecha nism or the other.

The carriage may be mounted to travel on front and rear tracks, each of which may consist of a rail extending unbroken across both the machine frames, and said rails may be supported in the middle by brackets, which also serve to connect the machine frames. The front rail may be grooved` to form a guideway orv track in ,which run rollers on .the carriage. One of the advantages of this arrangement in which the carriage runs across both machine frames on the same guide rails is compactness. In ,anyordinary single machine, the guide rails project a considerable distance at each side of the machine, this being necessary in order to give the carriage lwide bearing on the rails and to permit'the carriage to have a long travel. If two such machines were placed side by 'side with their rails abutting end to end, there would be considerable space between the machine frames, which in the present invention is not demanded, because the rails for the two machine frames are in a sense overlapped or merged into a single cross-rail permitting the frames to be placed together. The carriage while in the right-hand printing zone, rides onto a portion of the rail which belongs to the lefthand machine, and likewise while in" the lefthand zone the carriage rides over from the left-hand portion of the rails to portions which belong to the right-hand machine. The frontA rail, extending across both machine frames, permits the rolls on the carriage'to be widely separated, thus giving great stability to the carriage, the left-hand roll running over on the left-hand portion of the front rail while the writing of a line is being completedon the right-hand machine, and the right-.hand roll running on the right-hand portion of the' rail during the commencement of a line of writing on the left-hand machine.. The room occupied by the twin machine is also much less than that which would be required by two machines set'fclosely side by side with their carriages having stability equal to that of the twin machine.

The entire machine comprises a base, to

which the two main typewriter frames are secured by means of screws passing up into the usual threaded feet of said frames.l At their upper portions the vframes are also rigidly joined by means of the brackets which support the carriage rails. This makes a very compact and rigid structure, produced with but little alteration in the component typewriting machines, and hence readily manufactured.

Other features and. advantages will. hereinafter appear.

` In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a partly diagrammatic front .elevation View of the machine,` the carriage being shown at the intermediate `position where it passes from one printing zone vinto the other. Fig. 2 isa rear elevation view showing the carriage in full lines at the limit of its travelin one direction and in broken lines at or near, the opposite limit of travel. Fig. 3 is a view of the scale. Fig. 4 is-'a perspective view showing the letter-feed mechanisns rand the type actions, the carriage rack being shown at the point -of transfer from the control of one escapement mechanism to that of the other. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation view of the machine, and Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view showing the arrangement of the front rollers onthe car,- riage.

Two'machine frames A and B .which may be substantially the same as that of the commercial 'Underwood typewriti'ng .machine, are mounted side by side yon aI .base 1, being secured to the base by means of screw b'olts 2, which eXtend upwardly through a flange a of the base 1, and are threaded into the machine frames, theboltsl preferably eX-4 tending into or through feet b on the frames. The frames v.are also secured together by frontand rear brackets 3 and 4 connected by screws 3a and 4'3L or lotherwise to the tops of the machine frames. Each frame is provided with a separate ke board comprising` Va set of keys 5, mounte on` key levers 6, fulcrumed on a rod 7, said levers connected through 'bell-cranks. 8 to type bars 9, for swinging the latter upwardly and rearwardly about their :Eulcrum4 10 to cause the types 11 to' strike. aga-inst the front face'of the platen 12. The platen'is mounted on a carriage 13, which travels on front and rear r vguide rails 14 and ...15 respectively. The carriage may have' a sliding connection. with the rail 15 bymeans oflugs 16 on the carri-age. The rail 15 may extend across both machine frames as shown in Fig. 2, being connected Vadjacent its ends tothe outer ends of themachne,frmnes and also su ported'at the middle by f the bracket he front guide rail 14 also'extends across both ma' vchine' frames, being sup orted at its ends on.

the 'machineframe's an may-'be's'upported at themiddle by the-bracket 3.

The rail 14 may be formed in its inner face with a groove or channel forming a track for the rollers 17 on the carriage. number 'of these rollers may be provided in order to give stability to the carriage throughout its entire range of travel. As shown in Figs. 1 and 6, three rollers are provided, one at each end of the carriage and one a-t the middle. In this arrangement at least two of the rollers 17 are at all times in thetrack 14, even when the carriage -is at Ithe limit of its .traveland projects beyond the machine frame, `as shown in Fig. 2. It

will "be seen from this figure also that the lugs 16 which support the carriageon the rear guide r-ail 15 do not leave the vguide rail at any time.

The carriage may be driven in letter-feed direction by a spring motor 18 mountedon the left-hand machineframe A, and connected through a 'band 19 to the carriage. The letter-feed movement of the carriage in each printing zone is controlledvby separate letter-feed mechanisms, each comprising a pinion 20 to run inl mesh with a rack 21 on the carriage, said pinion connected to drive -key is depressed.

By reference to Fig. 4, it will be seen that a. separate escapement mechanism` is provlded for eachvset of keys, and also that the length'of the carriage rack 21 is vsubstantiallyl equal to the distance between the centersl of the fpinious 20 ,and escapement wheels. With this arrangement the carriage rack'is brought within the control of the left-hand escapement mechanismsimultaneously with its release from' the control of the vrightghand escapement mechanism. While 'thecarriagetis in ,theright-hand printing zon'e thetype keys 5, or space key on the right-hand` frame B may be operated to cause"the`letterjfeed'travel'-of the carriage 'to-the left untiltheendof the writing line has beenreached, at whichtime the carriage assumes the position indicated in-Figs. 1 and 3, and a Afurther operation of saidkeys can haveno eili'ect onsthe carriage.' As the rack 'barjhas passed beyond the right-hand pinon'20,i^the carriage-is prevented from' runinngforward under the influence ofthe motor-18 by the left-hand end of the carria e :rack being-brought into mesh with the le thand p1mon20. The carriage may now either be returned for writing a new line in the right-hand zone or its movement to the left continued by operating the keys ofthe left-hand keyboard. It will thus be seen that the carriage passes directly from one zone into the other and is always in position to receive writing by the type keys of one set "or the other.- The position of the carriage is indicated by a pointer 31 on the carriage moving over a scale bar 32 mounted on the frontrail 14, said scale bar comprising a right-hand scale 33 with numbered graduations and a similar left-hand scale 31. As the carriage passes directly from one printing point tothe other, the highest scale marking on the right-hand scale coincides with the"0 point of the left-hand scale, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that when the carriage is at or near the limit of its letterfeed travel in the left-hand zone that the left-hand end of the carriage projects a considerable distance beyond the frame B and the roller 17 on the left-hand end of the carriage is supported on a portion of the front rail 14 over the right-hand frame A. Also the roller 17 on the right-hand end of the carriage runs on a portion of the rail over the frame`B while the carriageI is at or near the beginning of a line of writingin the left-hand zone. This arrangement, provided by using the same guide rail 14 for the carriage while in both the rinting zones, permits the frames to be p aced close together, whereas if two single frames having guide rails of the usual length were placed side by side with the ends of the guide rails abutting, a wide space would be required between the machine frames, with a corresponding increase in the total space required for the machine. In the present invention the total space required isreduced by eliminating the space between the frames. Also the central carriage roller 17 and one of the end rollers are always supported in the rail 14 providing stability of the carriage. The use of a single rear guide rail 15, as shown in Fig. 2, serves a like purpose in permitting the frames to be placed close together and allowing the bearing lugs 16 to be spaced a considerable distance apartvto providey stability and at the same time retain said lugs on the guide rail during the entire travel of the carriage. The carriage rack 21 may be lifted from the escapement pinions 2O by the key 35 to permit the carria e to be moved freely in either direction f rom one point to another in either zone or from one printing zone to the other. y

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used'without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typew'riting machine, the combination with machine frames placed side by side and a set of type-bars and keys on each frame, of a paper carriage shiftable from the printing zone of one set to the printing zone of the other set, and having letterfeeding movements in each zone, the point at which the carriage leaves one zone being coincident with-that in which it enters the zoneol the other set.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with machine frames Aplaced side by side, of lseparate type-systems on said frames, a paper carriage shiftable from position to coperate with one type-system into position to coperate with the other typesystem, and a letter-feed mechanism associated with each type-system for controlling the letter-feed travel of the carriage in said system, the carriage being brought into the control of one letter-feed mechanism simultaneouslv with its movement beyond the control of the other letter-feed mechanism.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination with separate sets of type-bars and keys for operating said type-bars, of a carriage movable from position to receive writing from one set of type-bars into position to receive writing from the other set of type-bars, escapement mechanism operated by one set of keys to control the letter-feed movement of the carriage, and a separate escapement mechanism operated by the other set of keys to control the letter-feed movement of the carriage, said carriage brought within the range of one escapement 100 mechanism by the operation of the keys which actuate the other escapement mechanism.

4. In a typewriting machine, the combination with separate sets of type-bars and 105 keys for operating said type-bars, of a carriage movable from position toreceive writing from one set of type-bars into position to receive writing from the other set-0f typebars, an escapement mechanism operated by llo one set of keys to control the letter-feed movement of the carriage, and a separate escapement mechanism operated by the other set of` 'keys to control the letter-feed movementl of the carriage, said carriage 1.15 brought within the range of one escapement mechanism by the operation of the keys which actuate the other escapement mechanism, said carriage moved beyond the' range of each escapement mechanism simultanel2@ ously with its movement into the range of the other escapement mechanism.

`5. In a typewriting machine, the combination with separate key-systems, of a paper carriage, escapement mechanisms,` one 125 operated by each system of keys and each comprising an escapement pinion, and a rack on the carriage movable alternatively into engagement with said pinions.

6. In a typewriting mac ineZ the combi- 130 7 In a typewriting machine, the combi-' nation with machine frames, of a type-system on each frame, a paper carriage shlftable from one system to the other, an escapement mechanism' associated with each typesystem and controlling the letter-feed travel of the carriage in said system, the platen being brought Within the influence of one escapement mechanism at an intermediate point'at which it is freed from the control of the other escapement mechanism, graduated'scales to indicate the position of the carriage, the Zero point on one scale coincident with the highest graduation on the other scale, and a pointer brought to said zero point when the carriage is at said intermediate point.

8. In a 4typevvriting machine, the combination With separate escapement mechaaiisms, each comprising an escapement pinion, ofa carriage, a rack thereon to run in mesh kWith either pinion, said rack having its leading .end brought into engagement with one pinion as its other end leaves the other pinion, graduated scales indicating the position of the carriage, the zero point on one scale corresponding with the highest graduation on the other scale, and a pointer on the carriageV brought to said zero point when the carriage rack is in said position With its ends at said pinions.

9. In a typewriting. machine, the combination with graduated scales, the 'zero point on one scale coincident with the highest graduation on the other scale, of a paper carriage, a pointer, said pointer and said scales relatively movable during the travel of the carriage, and a plurality o f type-systems having separate zones, one for each scale; said carriage' movable into coperation with either type-system.

10. Inga typewriting machine, the combination With graduated scales, the zero point on one' scale coincident with the highest graduation on the other scale, apaper carriage, a pointer thereon movable along said 'scales during the travel of the carriage, and

separate type-systems, onefor writing while the pointer moves along one scale, and the other for writing while the pointer moves along the other scale.

11. Ina typewriting machine, the combination with graduated scales, thezero point on one, scale coincident with `the highest graduation on theother scale, a paper carria e, a pointer thereon movable along said sca es during the-trave1 of the marriage, separate type-systems, and an escapement mechanism foreach type-system controlling the letter-feed travel of the carriage While said pointer is moving over `one of said scales.

12. In a typevvriting machine, the comb1- nation With machine frames placed side by side', of a type-system on ea'ch frame, a carriage shiftable from position to coperate with oneY type-system into position to cooperate With the other, and having letterfeeding movements When coperating with each type-system, and a rail on Which the carriage travels, said rail comprising a portion on Which one portion of the carriage runs While cooperating- With one type-system, and on Which another portion of the carriage runs While cooperating with the other type-system.

13. In a typewritin machine, the combination Withmachine rames placed side by side, of a system of type-bars and keys mounted on each frame, said type-systems having separate printing centers, a paper carriage shiftable from one printing zone to the other, and having-letter-feeding movements When eoperating with each typesystem, anda rail on which said carriage runs, said*V rail comprising a portion forming la support orone end of the carriage when the latter is in one printing zone, said portion of the rail forming a 'support for the other end ofthe carriage during a" portion of its travel in the other printing zone.

14. In a typewriting machine, the combination with machine frames placed side by side, of a set of type-bars and keys on each machine frame, escapement mechanisms operated by said sets, a paper carriage -movable from one printing zone to the other, said carriage having a letter-feed movement in one printing zone controlled by one escapement mechanism, and in the other zone controlled by the other escapement mechanism, the carriage being brought into the control .of one escapement mechanism as it leaves carriage moved by the `operation of one mechanism withinl the range of the other, 16. In a typewriting machine, the combination with separate e letter-feed mechanlsms, of ai carriage having its letter-feed movements control ed by said mechanisms,

said carriage moved by the operation of one mechanism Within the range of the other simultaneously With its vmovement out of the range of the first mechanism'.

17. The combination with machine frames placed side by side, of an open base on which said frames are mounted, said base comprising inwardly extending flanges, said machine frames having feet resting on said flanges, and bolts extending upward through said flanges and secured in the machine frames.

18. In a typewritingmachine, the combination With a' base, of' machine frames mounted side byside thereon, brackets eX- tending across the adjacent ends of the machine frames, and bolts securing said brack-y ets to the frames.

19. In a typewriting machine, the combination with machine frames placed side by side and having their inner ends abutting, of front and rear brackets spanning said ends, and means to secure said brackets to the frames.

20. In a typewriting machine, the combination With a base, of machine frames placed side by side thereon, brackets spanning the upper adjacent ends of the machine frames, and means for rigidly -securing said base and brackets to the machine frames.

2l. ln a'typewriting machine, the combination with a base, of machine frames placed side by side and comprising feet resting on the base, screw bolts extending upward through the base and threaded into said feet, front and rear brackets on the upper surface of the inner ends of the machine frames, and screws rigidly connecting the brackets to the machine frames.

STEPHEN T. SMTH.

lWitnesses:

W. O. 'WESTPHAM Tiros H. lrgoNs. 

